Take-down arrangement for firearms



April 29, 1952 V. A. BROWNING TAKE-DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Aug. 27, 1949 gvwe/wtom VAL A. BRO WNZNG v. BROWNING 2,594,862

TAKE-DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 April 29, 1952 Filed Aug. 27, 1949 Patented Apr. 29, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT GFFIQE TAKE-DOWN ARRANGEMENT FOR FIREARMS 5. Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in take-down arrangements for firearms of the type having a barrel projecting from the forward end of a receiver and movable relative thereto during recoil, said barrel also being removable from the forward end of the receiver'by moving the same longitudinally relative to the receiver, a breech block adapted to recoil upon firing of the firearm, means for restoring the barrel and breech block to firing position, a forearm extending forwardly from the receiver and positioned adjacent the under portion of the barrel, and barrel locking means for normally preventing removal of the barrel from the receiver.

The present invention comprises certain improvements in the take-down arrangements disclosed and claimed in my copendingapplication Serial No. 20,262, filed April 10, 1948, and entitled Recoil-Operated Firearm. The take-down arrangementsdisclosed and claimed insaid co-pending application generally relate to-a firearm of' the type referred to above and in which a forearm latch normally retains the forearm in firing position adjacent part of the under-surface of the barrel. When said forearm latch disclosedin said application is-released from engaging the forearm, the rearward end of the forearm is automatically moved downward relative tothe barrel and receiver, and, during'such movement, moves the barrel lock from locking position,- whereby the barrel is then free to be moved in a direction longitudinally thereofso as tobe removed from the firearm.

It is the aim of' the present invention to provide means which will prevent such automatic movement: of the rearward end of theforearmdown wardly when theforearm latch is moved to releasing or unlatched position, said improved means requiring intentional manual movement of the" rearward end of the forearm downwardly away from the barrel for purposes of moving the barrel lock from its barrel locking position sothat the barrel may then be removed from the forward end of the receiver.

A further aim of the invention is to include means at the rearward end of the forearm which will snugly engage theforwardend-of the receiver to prevent looseness or play between the rearward end of the forearm and said receiver.

It is still another object of the invention to so form the improved arrangements that they are simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacturerand easy and convenient to operate.

Detailsof the invention and the foregoing aims thereof; as well as'other aims and objects thereof,

are set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1. is a side elevational view of a fragmentary portion of a firearm embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional viewof said firearm taken on the line 22 of Fig. l and illustrated on a larger scale. than in said figure.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional plan view taken on the line 33' of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating details of the rear end of the forearm.

Fig. 5- is an enlarged-view similar to Fig. 1 but with the forearm and receiver in longitudinal section.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7- is a cross sectional view taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, the firearm shown therein is generally similar to that disclosed in my aforementionedco-pending application and comprises a receiver III, a barrel 12 which may have abarrel extension l4 extending into the forward endof the receiver, and a stock [6. The firearm also is provided with a breech block N3 of suitable construction. Secured to the forward end of the receiver, and disposed beneath the barrel I 2 is a tube or guide 20. A recoil spring 22' surrounds said guide, said spring being forpurposes of returning the barrel after firing to firing position. The spring extends between friction pieces 24- and 26 which serve the general purposes as the friction pieces or collars described in my aforementioned application. The-rearmost friction piece 24 engages a block or member 28 which is shown herein as being at the forward end of the receiver ID. This block or member carries the take-down latch 30 which is of the same general character as shown in my aforementioned application.

The forward friction piece or collar- 26 cooperates with a slide 32- to which the barrel is detachably connected in the same general manner as that shown in my aforementioned application. Saidslidehas a ringportion 34 slidably surrounding the guide and one end of said ring portion engages the front friction piece 26. The slide also isprovided in its upper surface with an undercut groove 35- open on its forward end so' as to detachably accommodate an inverted T -shaped lug 31' dependingfrom the under side of the barrel. The parts upon the guide areheld together thereon and the compression of the recoil spring 22 is adjusted by means of a screw 36 which has a shank screwed into the outer end of the guide 20. Between the head of the screw 36 and the ring portion 34 of the slide is a washer 38 having one or more ears or lugs 40 which extend from its rear face and are received in corresponding notches 42 in the outer end of the ring portion 34 and notches 43 in the outer end of the guide transversely aligned with notches 42. In view of this, the slide 32 cannot turn with respect to the tube 20. Thus, the forward end of the barrel is held in alignment with respect to the rear end which in turn is held in position by the receiver l0.

In the present instance, the take-down latch 30 is in the form of an inverted U-shaped piece having legs 44 engageable in grooves 46 in the sides of the block 28. The legs 44 of the takedown latch 30 are connected by a cross piece 48 accommodated in a transverse groove 50 in the top of the block 28. Extending from the top of the latch 30 at each end thereof is a short lug 52. The latch 30 when in raised or operative position cooperates with a forwardly facing shoulder 54 on the barrel in order to prevent the barrel from moving forwardly out of the receiver.

Extending forwardly from the receiver beneath the barrel I2 is a forearm 55 having a longitudinal recess 58 which houses the guide 20 and the parts carried thereby. As is usual, the barrel [2 tapers down in diameter from its rear end to its muzzle end. The forearm is slotted at its top and the edges 60 which define said slot are shaped to be complementary to the tapered sides of the barrel, whereby said edges closely engage the barrel for a substantial portion of its under side. The arrangement is such, however, that there is normally sumcient clearance between the under surfaces of the barrel and the upper portions of the forearm forwardly of the pivot pin 62 to permit the rear end of the forearm to swing downwardly in a manner to be described. Part of said clearance is indicated at 64.

The barrel I2 is removable from the receiver ID by merely pulling the barrel forwardly after the take-down latch is disengaged from shoulder 54 on the barrel. However, in the present instance, since the forearm 56 conforms to the shape of the barrel as just stated, in order to permit such removal of the barrel, the forearm is moved slightly with respect to the receiver, and by preference, this movement is employed to actuate the take-down latch 30 as shown in my aforementioned application. The rearward end of the forearm has a downward pivotal movement for this purpose, such movement taking place about the pivot pin 62 which extends through the forward portion of the forearm and the screw 35 carried by the forward end of the guide 20.

The extreme rearward end of the forearm is formed so as to straddle the forward end of the receiver. .Just forwardly of the receiver, the forearm has a metal insert 66 which is generally U-shaped and is preferably press-formed from a strip of relatively stiff spring steel material. Said insert 66 straddles the block 28 and both braces the sides of the rearward portion of the forearm and actuates the take-down latch 30 as will now be described. At each side, the insert has an upwardly facing shoulder 68 which shoulders are adapted to engage the lower ends of the legs 44 of the take down latch to hold this latch in latching position when the forearm is held up in firing position by a forearm catch 10. The upper ends of the insert 66 are also bent upon themselves to provide downwardly facing shoulders 12 which are arranged to engage the upstanding lugs 52 of the take down latch when the rear end of the forearm is swung downwardly upon being released by the forearm catch 10 so that the forearm assists in moving the take-down latch downwardly or barrel latching position.

The forearm catch 10 is shown as being in the form of a slide mounted in a T groove 14 formed in the forward end of the lower wall of the receiver. Disposed in the bottom of the receiver is a plate 16 having at its forward end a slot accommodating a spring 18 which normally biases the forearm catch 10 forwardly into a position to engage beneath the rearward edge of the lower portion of metal insert 66 for purposes of holding the rear end of the forearm in firing position as illustrated in Fig. 1. The under side of the catch may be roughened for purposes of facilitating actuation thereof. The forward end of the catch 10 may also be tapered upward and forwardly to facilitate automatic actuation of the latch by the insert 66 when the forearm is moved from its lowermost dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 to its firing position illustrated in full lines therein.

When the parts are in the normal firing position shown in Fig. 5, the lug 31 is engaged in the undercut groove 35 of the slide 32 and the takedown latch 3!! lies in front of the shoulder 54 on the barrel so that the barrel is properly held in place. 4

Whereas in the structure covered. by said aforementioned application, the rearward end of the forearm was automatically moved to its lowermost position upon releasing the forearm catch 10 from engagement therewith, the present invention comprises means for releasably holding the rearward end of the forearm against movement away from the barrel and thereby prevents movement of the take down latch 30 from its latching position with the barrel after the forearm catch 10 is moved to unlatching position until the rearward end of the forearm is intentionally manually moved away from the barrel. Said releasable holding means utilize the resilient nature of the metal insert 66 and includes a pair of ears 19 integral therewith and extending rearwardly from the upstanding sides of said insert. Said ears closely embrace the sides of the forward portion of the receiver II] as clearly shown in Fig. 3. They thereby serve, among other functions, to brace the rearward end of the forearm against sidewise movement relative to the firearm, thus preventing looseness or play between the forearm and the firearm. As best seen in Fig. 4, the ears [9 are provided on their inner surfaces adjacent their lower edges with opposed notches or short rounded grooves 80. The contour of said notches or grooves is such as to provide camming surfaces engageable with the opposite ends of a pin 84 extending through the barrel guide BI and the forward portion of receiver 10 as shown in Fig. 3. The ends of said pin are rounded as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 and said ends project slightly beyond the sides of the receiver. When the forearm is in firing position, the inner surfaces of the upstanding sides of insert 66 closely embrace the sidesurfaces of block 28 and the ears 19 embrace the sides of the receiver l0, whereby the ends of pin 84 will then be disposed within notches 80 so as to norm-ally maintain said arm 56 may then be manually moved down- -ward1y by using a slight amount of force sufficient to. overcome the resilient force exerted by the ears l9 of the metal insert, thus causing the same to be flexed slightly outward as a result of the curved surfaces of notches 80 being cammed over "the projecting ends of pins 84, whereby said rearward end of the forearm 56 may be separated from the barrel to. the extent of being moved to its lowermost position illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and in which position the ends of pin 84 frictionally engage the inner surfaces of the ears 19. When the ears 19 are thus flexed outward, the adjacent relatively thin sides of forearm 56 will also be flexed slightly outward. During such movement of the rearward end of the forearm, the take down latch will be moved downward to its unlocked position in which it is out of engagement with the shoulder 54 on the barrel. The aforementioned latch movement wil1 be accomplished during downward swinging movement of the forearm 5G by means of the downwardly facing shoulders 12 on insert 66 engaging the lugs 52 of the take-down latch and forcing that latch downwardly out of latching relation with the barrel shoulder 54. Such downward movement of the forearm also removes the forearm L from the line of movement of the barrel so that the barrel may now be removed by merely drawing it axially in a forward direction. When it is desired to put the gun together, it is merely necessary to align the barrel extension l4 with the receiver I0 and the lug 31 of the barrel with the groove 35 of the slide 32 and move the barrel rearwardly to its firing position and then manually raise the rear end of the forearm 56. When the forearm is thus raised, the upwardly facing shoulders 68 of insert 66 engage the lower ends of the legs 44 of the take-down latch and move the latter to the latching position shown in Fig. 6

and the forearm catch ill, under the influence of spring 18, automatically snaps forwardly.

It will thus be seen that the improvements comprising the present invention provide simple and effective means operable to prevent movement of the rearward end of the forearm from the barrel to barrel unlocking position, following movement of the forearm latch to unlatching position, until the rearward end of said forearm is actually manually moved downward as a result of overcoming, by the exertion of slight manual force, the resilience of the ears '79 which resist being cammed apart by the ends of pin 84. This construction therefore comprises a concealed, readily and conveniently operable releasable means for holding the forearm against accidental movement to barrel unlatching position, as well as preventing looseness or play between the rearward end of the forearm and the firearm.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in its preferred embodiment and has included certain details, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a firearm, a section having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, releasable latch means for preventing longitudinal disengageable movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means for mounting said forearm on said section for limited movement from a normal position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, interengaging means between said forearm and releasable latch means for operating the 'latter upon said limited movement of the forearm, a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in said normal position, and holding means arranged and operable normally to hold said forearm in said normal position following the release of said forearm catch but yieldable to permit manual movement of said forearm to said removed position thereof.

2. In a firearm, a section having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, re leasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal disengageable movement of; the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means pivotally connecting the forward end of said forearm on said section whereby the rearward end of said forearm has a limited downward swinging movement from a normal position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, means on said forearm engageable with said latch and operable to move said latch from engagement with said barrel upon said limited movement of the forearm, a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in said normal position, and interengageable holding means relatively carried by said receiver and rearward end of said forearm arranged and operable normally to hold said forearm in said normal position following the release of said forearm catch but yieldable to permit manual swinging movement of said rearward end of said forearm to said removed position thereof.

3. In a firearm, a section having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, releasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal disengageable movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means for mounting said forearm on said section for limited movement from a normal position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, interengaging means between said forearm and releasable latch means for operating the latter upon said limited movement of the forearm, a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in said normal position, and

means arranged and operable normally to hold said forearm in said normal position following the release of said forearm catch but yieldable to permit manual movement of said forearm to said removed position thereof, said holding means comprising yieldably engageable spring means and projecting means relatively carried by said forearm and receiver.

4. In a firearm, a section having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, releasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal disengageable movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means pivotally connecting the forward end of said forearm on said section whereby the rearward end of said forearm has a limited downward swinging movement from a normal position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, means on said forearm engageable with said latch and operable to move said latch from engagement with said barrel upon said limited movement of the forearm, a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in said normal position, resilient ears carried by said forearm adjacent the rearward end thereof, and projections carried by said receiver and engageable by said ears when said forearm is its said normal position to hold said forearm;, in said position following the release of said forearm catch but said ears being yieldable relative to said projections upon manual downward movement of said rearward end of said forearm to permit manual swinging movement of the latter to said removed position thereof.

5. In a firearm, a section having a receiver, a barrel slidably engaged at its rear end on the receiver and disengageable therefrom by longitudinal movement forwardly from the receiver, releasable latch means for normally preventing longitudinal disengageable movement of the barrel forwardly of the receiver, a forearm, means pivotally connecting the forward end of said forearm on said section whereby the rearward end of said forearm has a limited downward swin ing movement from a normal position closely adjacent the barrel to a position somewhat removed therefrom, means on said forearm engageable with said latch and operable to move said latch from engagement with said barrel upon said limited movement of the forearm, a manually operable catch for holding said forearm in said normal position, rearwardly extending resilient ears carried by said forearm adjacent the rearward end and adjacent opposite sides thereof, said ears being engageable with opposite sides of said receiver and having camming notches therein, and projections extending from said 01')- posite sides of said receiver and receivable within said camming notches of said ears when said forearm is in said normal position thereof to hold said forearm in said position following the release of said forearm catch, said camming notches in said ears engaging said projections and causing said ears to yield relative thereto upon manual downward movement of said rearward end of said forearm to permit manual swinging movement of the latter to said removed position thereof.

VAL A. BROWNING. 7

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,460,807 Walther July 3, 1923 1,661,949 Krenek Mar. 6. 1928 

